Formatting marks are special characters that are hidden by default that affect how text is displayed in a Microsoft Word document; its purpose is to reveal spaces, tabs, and paragraph breaks in your document. The formatting tab is unprintable; if any of the formatting marks are turned on in Word, it displays hidden characters such as Tab characters, Spaces, Paragraphs marks, Hidden text, Optional hyphens, Object anchors, and you can choose to show all formatting marks.
How to show or hide Formatting Marks in Word
Follow the steps below to show and hide formatting marks in Word:
- To show the formatting marks, click the File tab
- Click Options on the backstage view
- A Word Options dialog box will open
- Click Display on the left pane.
- Under the section “Always show these formatting marks on screen,” you can enable one or more formatting marks if desired by checking the checkboxes.
- You can also click the checkbox for Show all formatting marks to display all formatting marks.
- Then click OK.
- To hide the formatting marks follow the same procedure above and uncheck the formatting mark or marks you have enabled, then click OK.
Let us see this in detail.
To show the formatting marks, click the File tab.
Click Options on the backstage view.
A Word Options dialog box will open
Click Display on the left pane.
Under the section “Always show these formatting marks on screen,” you can enable one or more formatting marks if desired by checking the checkboxes.
You can also click the checkbox for Show all formatting marks to display all formatting marks.
Then click OK.
To hide the formatting marks follow the same procedure above and uncheck the formatting mark or marks you have enabled, then click OK.
Which button do you press to show non-printing characters formatting marks and breaks?
You can open the Paragraph marks a formatting mark by using combination keys Ctrl + Shift + 8, and you will see the Paragraph mark symbol displayed on your screen. The formatting mark follows any new paragraph in a document.
Which hidden formatting symbol represents a space?
Each formatting mark has a purpose to your Word document. The hidden formatting symbol that represents a space is a small black dot. The dot will appear in the document when there is a space.
We hope this tutorial helps you understand how to show and hide formatting marks in Word; if you have questions about the tutorial, let us know in the comments.